 Found in an advertisement published in the Chicago Daily Tribune in 1947 promoting The Second Forty Years, a self-help book by Edward Stieglitz. Often misattributed to Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States.

 In Russian: ?, ?, ?; ?, ? - ?.Said in 1923, as quoted in The Memoirs of Stalin's Former Secretary (1992) by Boris Bazhanov [Saint Petersburg] (?. ?). (Text online in Russian).Variant (loose) translation: The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything.